diff --git a/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2018-12-04-15-33-28.bpo-35351.ZhhBfT.rst b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2018-12-04-15-33-28.bpo-35351.ZhhBfT.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ee6c870b060
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Misc/NEWS.d/next/Build/2018-12-04-15-33-28.bpo-35351.ZhhBfT.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+When building Python with clang and LTO, LTO flags are no longer passed into
+CFLAGS to build third-party C extensions through distutils.
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index bccedd18b7f..4714ae887a6 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -6670,7 +6670,7 @@ $as_echo "$as_me: llvm-ar found via xcrun: ${LLVM_AR}" >&6;}
       LTOFLAGS="$LTOFLAGS -g"
   fi
 
-  BASECFLAGS="$BASECFLAGS $LTOFLAGS"
+  CFLAGS_NODIST="$CFLAGS_NODIST $LTOFLAGS"
   LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS $LTOFLAGS"
 fi
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 320671edada..c35aea98e5b 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -1394,7 +1394,7 @@ if test "$Py_LTO" = 'true' ; then
       LTOFLAGS="$LTOFLAGS -g"
   fi
 
-  BASECFLAGS="$BASECFLAGS $LTOFLAGS"
+  CFLAGS_NODIST="$CFLAGS_NODIST $LTOFLAGS"
   LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS $LTOFLAGS"
 fi